First Impressions / Ouran High School Host Club

Summary:
While opening the door to the Third Music Room, Haruhi is stopped by a boy asking about Honey. Before Haruhi can call him, Honey (on top of Mori), pokes his head out of the door and recognizes the boy as “Chika-chan.” Chika immediately attacks, but Honey jumps out of the way. As Haruhi starts panicking about the two fighting, Renge rises out of the ground and starts announcing the battle. Chika throws several punches, all of which are dodged, and Honey responds with a sweep with his legs trying to trip Chika. The two trade kicks and then, as the rest of the Host Club shows up, Chika pulls out a metal pole. Chika makes several swings and seems to land one that sends Honey flying across the room. At first, it seems that Chika has won, but both Renge and Mori know that Honey is the actual victor. The bottoms of Chika’s pants have actually been pinned down into the ground by several shuriken. In the replay, it is apparent that Honey threw them while he was in midair. Trying to make sense of everything, Haruhi asks who Chika is, and is very surprised when Tamaki informs her that he is Honey’s little brother.
Chika explains how the Haninozuka family has its own original martial arts style and how the males in the family go out to learn karate and judo. They had been taught to fight each other when they saw another family member, meaning that the earlier fight had been part of the family principles. Tamaki tries to offer Chika some cake, but Chika says that he hates sweet things. According to him, the Haninozuka family admonishes selfishness and aims at selflessness. Someone as incomplete as his brother will never become the next head of the family; his corrupted older brother is not qualified even to introduce himself as someone of the Haninozuka style. Chika recalls how it was one year ago that Honey quit the karate club and engrossed himself in a stuffed animal along with cake. As he leaves, Chika tells Honey not to approach him at school. Haruhi notices that all these harsh words have had an effect on Honey. However, he’s soon back to normal when Tamaki offers him a piece of cake. Haruhi didn’t know that Honey used to be in the karate club and is curious as to why he stopped to join the Host Club. The twins tell her that story goes back to when the Host Club was being created, when Honey was the karate club’s demon captain.
Two years ago, Honey trained at his family home and was admired by many, though there were also some disparaging comments about his height. His father had told him take his responsibilities more severely and to cast aside all of his weaknesses and indulgences. And so, Honey made an effort to follow his father’s orders by packing away his stuffed animals and adopted the image of a brave man. But come mealtime, Honey was surrounded by sweets and had to endure it. All the girls saw this and went gaga over him, eventually forming a fan club. Haruhi is still curious about the demon captain bit, so the twins continue the story. The guys in the karate club called Honey a demon captain, but they were clearly words of flattery. Then, one day during training, Honey saw a bunny puppet motioning to him from the doorway, so he followed it outside and around the gym. The person responsible was of course Tamaki, here to suggest to Honey that they start a club together. Tamaki wanted to make better use of Honey’s appearance, so he appealed to Honey’s liking of stuffed animals and cake. Honey tried to resist, saying he didn’t like cake and had no interest in cute things. His actions didn’t quite match his words though, as he couldn’t keep his eyes off Tamaki’s bunny puppet.
Tamaki admitted that he didn’t know much about martial arts, and he posed to Honey the question of what true strength is. Hiding one’s true self, showing off – that can be thought of as running away. Being able to admit what you really like, having the power to enjoy yourself facing forward – isn’t that true strength? After giving Honey the puppet, Tamaki promised to visit again and asked that Honey think about it slowly. As a result, Honey went and asked his father what true strength was. His father decided to teach it directly to Honey’s body and so the two fought. Honey was the victor, even managing to put his father in the hospital. It’s rumored that the man who presided over the match was the chief of the government’s defense agency and thus started seeing Honey as a terrible weapon. Afterwards, Honey decided to quit the karate club and join the Host Club. His little brother, however, was still raised in the family tradition, and Honey knows that Chika hates him. Tamaki decides that they should begin an operation to reconcile the Haninozuka brothers.
In the karate club, one of the members is talking about how Chika can’t compare to his brother. Chika overhears and punches at the guy, stopping just short of hitting his face. Chika doesn’t want to hear anything about his brother when he’s around. He then hears some girls outside talking about him and how his brother is cuter, so he slams the door on them. Watching the scene from a window, the twins comment on how it seems to be just a simple complex on Chika’s part because he’s always being compared to his brother who seems superior in every way. The twins aren’t interested and go off looking for something else to do. Tamaki tries to reel them back in, but Honey says that it’s ok. He’s fine with Chika hating him because he just wants Chika to be healthy and grow up quickly. Chika, however, interrupts them because they’re causing a commotion. He immediately attacks, but Honey matches his kick with another kick. Oddly enough, Chika calls Honey an alien. Chika admits that if it were only the cake and the Usa-chan that Honey carries around, he wouldn’t have said anything. And it’s not because Honey is strong that Chika treats him as an alien either.
What Chika finds strange is the fact that Honey can eat three cakes after dinner every night. He recalls a time when he secretly watched as Honey ate some after dinner and how the cakes disappeared almost instantly. And then there was the incident from last week when Chika woke up in the middle of the night and saw a light coming from the dining room. He found Honey in there surrounded by cakes. Honey was having his weekly special cake night and invited Chika to eat with him. Chika tries to get everyone to agree with him about the scariness of the situation and how Honey is an alien. However, Chika also remembers how the two of them used to get along pretty well long ago. Honey used to only like cake and cute things a little more than normal people. Chika says that it was during the period of time that Honey abstained from the cake and cute things that someone appeared and told Honey that stuff about how true strength and acknowledging the things you like. Everyone in the Host Club knows that person is of course Tamaki.
Mori finally puts his hand on Honey’s shoulder and says that there is a solution. Honey apologizes to Chika for not knowing that Chika hated sweet things (which of course is not the issue). He goes on to say that he’s thankful to Tamaki and the Host Club and that he’s not going to change himself now. Turning serious, Honey says that they should use the Haninozuka style to settle this. And so, everyone goes to a large open field for the fight. If Chika wins, Honey promises to not eat cake anymore at night. As soon as the fight starts, everyone notices that it is just like the one between the two boys earlier in the Third Music Room, except the roles are reversed; Honey is doing exactly what Chika did back then and vice versa. Mori comments on how at least for Honey, this might be intentional. And just like Mori predicts, Chika throws some shuriken at Honey, though Honey knocks them all away. Mori explains that he’s been watching them fight for years now. He knows that even if Chika calls Honey an alien, he still has much respect for Honey’s martial arts ability. Claiming to know everything about Honey, Mori thinks that Honey will lose on purpose. In actuality however, Honey delivers a kick that knocks out Chika. Honey is jumping up and down over his win because it allows him to keep eating his late night cake. Mori is now very much in an orz position after having been proven wrong. Watching the happy Honey, Haruhi wonders if his love for cake is greater than his love for his younger brother. Sometime later, sitting on the rooftop of the school, Honey remembers all of Tamaki’s words about true strength. He then declares his love for his stuffed Usa-chan.

Preview:

Awwww, they cut out Mori’s little brother! He was the one supposed to keep Chika in check for this entire story in a variety of violent ways. Likely the reason is because of time constraints since they had to cover some sixty pages worth of the manga in this one episode. Still, it’s a shame he wasn’t there.
I felt bad for Mori at the end there. That’s the most I’ve ever heard him talk and yet things didn’t happen like he thought they would. So much for knowing everything about Honey. I guess Honey’s love for cake exceeds everything else, except maybe his love for Usa-chan (makes you wonder what he’d do if he had to choose between the two). His face during the late night cake eating session was just downright creepy too.
Next week, the return of the Lobelia Zuka Club!

35 Comments

  5. people someone knows what’s the next ep about? the preview seems quite tasty the Lobelia giels are crazy than ever, what bothers me is the Rikku’s look on Harui on the second pic >_

    RickaZ
    Reply

  8. Oh my God, love the first shot in the preview! Somebody hurry up and make some icons out of those! XD But I guess they had to cut out Mori’s brother because of the episode’s time constraint. Still, the episode looks fun.

    mangaka-chan
    Reply

  15. kawaii :3 ohh~la~la~… i cant wait till tomorrow’s eposide XD… o wait.. not tomorrow.. its thursday XD *bad memory – -* anwyays.. iwonder wut will happened in ep. 19 :3 *lookin’ forward*

    Mitsukuni-chan
    Reply

  17. I was really looking forward to seeing a “Mini-Mori” in this episode, but I guess Mori getting a speaking role in this episode kinda makes up for that. Ah well, let’s be hopeful that he’ll appear eventually.

    Missbookworm
    Reply

  21. Since the licencee of Ouran’s manga in Thailand was still FROZE at Vol5. The story after Karuisawa Ep alway a new story to me.

    A long summary need a long for me to read, but the picture of this Ep make me jaw dropping…I don’t know that Honey-Sempai can do an awesome fighting like this and a monotone flash-back was very cool too.

    Next Ep – the Tsukas is back again and I see haruhi in Loveria’sStudent dress? What happen???

    Jin , Masked Wizard
    Reply

  22. Pic 27: With the shadow above Honey’s lips, his mouth seem all the more bigger. Plus, the part where he devoured 3 cakes in a flash (no pun intended) was just so funny!

    Ooh! Finally, Haruhi’s joining the Zuka club? Last pic = omg, I dunno if I should call her cute or just freakin’ hilarious.

    JoshieJosh
    Reply

  23. Nice pictures. I can’t wait for episode 19. I’ve been waiting for the return of the Zuka club. It seems that someone is uploading your screencaps onto another site without permission and they aren’t linking you back at all. 🙁

    http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12960537&page=136

    If you scroll down you can see that she renamed them and put them into your photobucket. I find that obviously rude since first of all, its kinda hard to get screencaps.

    I hate when people do this. By the way, I admire what you do for people but some just need to ask you if they could use them( unlike the ones on that site called GaiaOnline).

    Sammy
    Reply

  30. thise episode hasnt came out yet to download, i want them to hurry up and bring 19 out because that one looks really good. i cant wait! its on youtube but i dont wanna watch it on that. i hope chika doesnt hav an annoying voice lol.

    midori
    Reply

  31. I read the manga only after I watched the whole anime series, but it was a shame they left out Mori’s brother, because he made the whole thing really funny.

    But I love Hunny, partially because I like cake too, so I can relate. ^_~” It was so cute in the beginning when he was like, “Chika-Chan! ^__^”

    Kawaiikpop
    Reply

  35. thats just odd, shuriken are the star-shaped weapons that were and are commonly associated with the ninja arts, as well as the kunai and all that other blahblah. But Chyea, those were KUNAI that were thrown at Chica by Honey-sempai…not Shuriken. Unless they have some other sort of way describing kunai as shuriken then well its just downright well kinda retarded.

    The killing Bird
    Reply

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